Where to eat on Gili Air

The lay of the land

Most of the eating happens along the south and east coast paths, within a few minutes’ walk of the harbour, with a second cluster on the sunset side. Prices are low by Bali standards — a warung plate runs IDR 30,000–60,000 (€2–4), a beach-restaurant main IDR 70,000–150,000 (€4–9), a cocktail €6–10 because the alcohol is imported and taxed. Cash is still king at the smaller places; the bigger restaurants take cards, though the machine occasionally “isn’t working”, so carry some notes. Kitchens on a car-free island run entirely on boat deliveries, so a dish or two is often “finished” by evening — treat the menu as a strong suggestion rather than a contract, and eat what came in fresh that day.

Warungs and Sasak home cooking

The warungs — small family-run kitchens, often just a few plastic tables — are where Gili Air feeds itself, and they are both the cheapest and the most interesting food on the island. Sasak cooking (the cuisine of Lombok, distinct from Balinese) leans hard on chilli, and “not spicy” still means something. Look for nasi campur (rice with a spread of small dishes you point at from a glass cabinet), ayam taliwang (Lombok’s chilli-and-lime grilled chicken, the regional signature), pelecing kangkung (blanched water spinach under a fierce tomato-chilli-shrimp-paste sambal), plecing anything, sate over coconut husk, and whole fish grilled with sambal. The warungs that are packed at 7pm are packed for a reason; the empty ones usually deserve it.

Beach restaurants and sunset spots

The west coast has the sunset places — beanbags and low tables on the sand, a cocktail list, a bonfire later, Mount Rinjani turning pink across the strait. Arrive about 45 minutes before sundown for a front-row spot in high season; our Sunset Point guide has the timing. Along the east and south, a handful of beach restaurants do genuinely good wood-fired pizza, fresh seafood, decent pasta and a real wine list — standards higher than an island this small has any business supporting, driven by a steady stream of European and Australian owners and long-stay travellers who would notice if it slipped. A few do live music one or two nights a week. Our drinks guide covers the bar side in more detail.

Coffee, breakfast and plant-based

There is properly good espresso on Gili Air. Several cafés roast their own or source seriously from Indonesian estates, and a flat white here is the real thing, pulled on a decent machine, not a sachet. Breakfast culture is strong and runs late: smoothie bowls heavy with local fruit, sourdough, shakshuka, eggs done the way you asked. Plant-based eating is genuinely easy — most menus carry a marked vegan section rather than a single sad salad, and the warungs are naturally vegetable-forward if you skip the shrimp paste. Gluten-free is workable but say so clearly, as soy sauce and some sambals contain wheat.

Seafood, and how to order it

Fish is the thing to eat here, and the good places display the morning’s catch on ice — snapper, grouper, barracuda, tuna, mahi-mahi, sometimes lobster and prawns — and price it by weight. Pick your fish, choose grilled (over coconut husk, with sambal matah or kecap) or in a curry, and it arrives twenty minutes later. Ask what came in today rather than ordering off the printed menu. Reef fish are best avoided both for sustainability and, occasionally, for ciguatera risk; pelagics like tuna and mahi-mahi are the safer, more sustainable choice. If a place has no visible fish and offers you “fresh snapper” anyway at 9pm, order the chicken.

What to try, in order

A smoothie bowl for breakfast at least once. Ayam taliwang at a warung at least once, with rice and pelecing kangkung. Whole grilled fish, chosen off the ice, at a beach restaurant for one dinner. A wood-fired pizza on a night you cannot face rice. A Balinese-style espresso mid-morning somewhere with shade. A sunset cocktail or a fresh coconut on the west side. And if you take a cooking class, you will make several of the above yourself and finally understand what is in the sambals.

Eating at KOHO

Our kitchen is a fusion of Indonesian and Mediterranean, built on local ingredients — fish from the island’s boats, vegetables and herbs from Lombok, tropical fruit, Balinese-roasted coffee — with a plant-based section designed in rather than bolted on. Breakfast is à la carte (not a buffet) and included when you book direct, served 7:30–11:00. Lunch and dinner are served anywhere on the property — a pool daybed, a garden table, your own terrace — from 7:30am to 10:00pm, so you are never tied to a dining-room sitting. The lunch and dinner menu, breakfast menu, bar list and wine list are all online to read before you arrive. For a special evening there is a four-course romantic terrace dinner by candlelight (ask a day ahead), and a weekly Saturday barbecue for everyone.

Dietary needs and allergies

Vegan, vegetarian and pescatarian are straightforward across the island and at KOHO. Nut allergies need care — peanut is common in sauces and gado-gado — so flag it every time you order, not just once. Coeliac travellers should assume soy sauce, some sambals and most fried batters contain wheat unless told otherwise. At KOHO, tell us your requirements when you book and again at breakfast on day one, and the kitchen will steer your choices for the stay rather than improvising each meal. Baby food and very plain options for young children are limited island-wide (and KOHO is 14+ anyway).

Practical notes

Tap water is not drinkable — refill stations are all over the island, and at KOHO filtered water is provided in the room and refilled. Reef-safe (non-oxybenzone) sunscreen matters here and is sold in several shops. Tipping is appreciated but not expected; rounding up or 5–10% at a sit-down place is generous. Book a table for the popular west-coast restaurants on a weekend evening in July and August. And carry cash for the warungs — the best food on the island rarely takes cards.

Common questions

Written by the team at The KOHO Air Hotel, a four-star boutique wellness retreat five minutes’ walk from Gili Air harbour. We answer questions like these by message most days — just ask.